


Fleeting Happiness

by Flingbert



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: M/M, satalite AU with no card games and yusei has no friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21845773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flingbert/pseuds/Flingbert
Summary: Yusei finds an android in the trash and fixes it up. The android only has a few seconds of life before it shuts down and loses all memory again. The android can only remember a few things, such as the loving nature of the professor who created him who reminds him of yusei. In these short moments, yusei falls in love with this android. He finds life and optimism in a world dilapidated, he hasn't known such innocence since the world ended and is in great mourning even as the android speaks it's final words. During a short moment of humanity from something that isn't even human, he cries as he's not wanting to go back to the lonely void of a world that he knows once Bruno shuts down.
Relationships: Bruno | Antinomy/Fudou Yuusei
Kudos: 4





	Fleeting Happiness

Ahh yes, the sweet smell of freshly dumped bags, rusted metal, shit and feces in the morning. Well, I’m not actually sure about feces, but probably - you never know, even after having lived in Satellite for as long as I have. Satellite use to be the pinnacle of technology until the Momentum Conserver running the city berzerk about a decade back. I was only 8 when it happened but I still remember it, my mother had died during the initial blast, and my father died in the riots following. He got mistaken as a government worker and was attacked by civilians, I mean it’s pretty brutal he’s gone just because he forgot to take off his lab coat after work but it is what it is. Things have generally gotten pretty peaceful post apocalypse, instead of sticks up asses it’s stick in your ass before someone finds it appealing, I guess. For other forms of revenue, we’re to dig through trash hoping for something shiny to hand in to the pawn shop across town - that is if you make it there without getting mugged. We’re a jolly people really.

I like coming to the dump early morning because that’s when the trucks come with the new stuff, the air is crisp and it keeps me keen. Sometimes I get lucky and find some cool broken gadgets. Growing up seeing my dad work in technology I know how to fix up a few things, it gives me an advantage against other dumpster divers. I was able to salvage a few of my father’s devices after the blast and in these years I’ve used them to fix up some things. I’ve become more of a mechanic than a technological engineer, but it gets food on the plate and keeps me occupied. 

I climb to the top of a heap and start sifting; rag dolls, a bent frying pan, a cellphone with a cracked screen which I pocket, a bunch of exposed dead wires attached to what looks like an old microwave, a human face beginning to reveal itself under the p— ah.

The trash in my hands falls and clangs against other pieces of metal as it makes its way down the pile. Is he dead? I may act tough but discovering a murder wasn’t on my Satallie resident card until now at least. Maybe if I cover his face back up then no one will notice and it’ll be someone else’s problem, yeah that sounds like the best idea. The trash I’m crouched on is probably where the rest of his body is, now that I think about it that shoe sticking out is probably his, he’s really tall.

I look at his face again closely despite my paralyzing fear, I can’t seem to separate my eyes from him. His hair is a beautiful blue and his skin is so pale, as if all the blood has been drained out of him. His eyelashes are long and his lips are a deep red despite his contrasting complexion. He looks like a sleeping beauty, even with his face covered in dirt, he had such stunning features. Drawn in by his beauty, I turn his cheek and a sigh of relief hit me - this was an android. The right side of his face was torn, revealing wiring and rusted metal. It wasn't uncommon to see broken androids and robots here, but this is the most realistic looking one I’ve seen.

Curiosity led me to start unearthing this man from the trash piece by piece. He was clothed, wearing a white, yellow and blue torn up jacked over a navy shirt and some plain jeans. His leg was dangling by a couple wires and his right arm was completely gone, his memory chip and processor was probably fried too. Just a quick inspection shows it was expertly crafted. With the right parts it should be capable of free thought and action. Who’d make something like this? 

*

The garage beneath the old clockmaker’s shop wasn’t the cleanest, most high tech lab facility out there, but it was something. I’m surprised the owner lets me use it to be honest, I think she knew my father, but really I think that old woman has her eyes on me. Anyways, I’m not complaining and it doesn’t really matter.

It’s become dusk; the only thing illuminating the room is a small lamp flickering above the android's head and my computer screen in the background. I don’t think he will have much memory, and realistically he might only be on for about 30 seconds, but I can’t seem to give up on him. I mean, I’m not really looking to make him fully functioning again, not that that’s even possible with the materials at hand, but I decided to let myself get absorbed by the flow of things. Best case scenario he can be my cleaning robot maid, worst case scenario it’s the terminator. 

When I was looking at his parts, on his backside I found a barcode labeled “001 BRUNO”. I flick the switch and call his assumed name, “...Hey Bruno. Wake up. Is that your name?” I start slapping his cheek just in case this thing is somehow just asleep. There’s no response, I feel like an idiot talking to myself and spending dawn til dusk on this thing. I’m no Frankenstein but this should work, at least to kick start him. I put my goggles back on and go to see if turning it off and on again would help, to my disbelief it actually does.

“Ah— ! Hello? Is this the professor’s lab?” He looks around, blinking his eyes, then turns to me with the widest smile. “I’m so sorry professor, I don’t know what had gotten into me. I got dizzy then fell asleep, uh, maybe. Well anyways I’m glad you’re okay!” He said, chipper.

He’s… really airheaded. He just woke up in a stranger’s garage, he’s apologizing for it, and he’s mistaken me for this ‘professor’. He waves his hands around as he talks and his voice is soft. He starts to get up and I stop him,

“Hey you can’t move from this spot, you leave the outlet your system will probably shut down. I was only able to give your program a boost of sorts to get you talking for about a minute, I don’t know if I’m able to do that again either.” He sits back down carefully, he looks a little dejected, I think he wanted to give me a hug. He hadn’t noticed his leg is a thread away from detaching itself? I continue with a sigh, “Also, I’m not sure who this ‘professor’ is, and not to be cold, but he’s probably dead, along with the other 63% of this population.” 

He starts crying. His one hand goes up to his face to wipe the tears as he sobs. Can androids cry? I start feeling awkward, it feels like I just told a child Santa isn’t real. I didn’t mean to be rude, I’m just saying it how it is. “H-hey, I’m really sorry about your professor. I didn’t want to make you cry. So again, is your name Bruno? I’m Yusei. Hey Bruno do you want to go see my other machines? I have a— a radio! And I think this phone I picked up today might have some charge. Wait just give me a second! -- don’t move!” I’m frantic, he starts to laugh a little bit through his tears, I don’t know why but it makes my heart hurt. After a big sniffle he speaks,

“Thank you Yusei. Sorry for crying, sorry I mistook you for the professor, thanks for trying to make me feel better.” He smiles at me with his glassy eyes and tear stained face. “The professor was a nice man like you. When he showed me his new inventions he would run to me excited to show it off. I really loved him.” His nose is running but he continues to smile at me.

I’m hesitant to ask but I do so anyways, “Bruno, why were you created?”

“I don’t remember.” He says.

“What was the professor’s name?” I try another question. His eyes are downcast and his eyebrows furrow, he looks like he’s wincing.

“... I don’t remember.” He says.

As Bruno stares at the floor, tears again run down his cheeks. He looks like a puppy waiting for its owner to come back, except with an amputated right arm with wires sticking out. I use a cloth nearby to wipe his tears, he holds my hand that’s wiping against his face and leans into it with his eyes closed. He seems to find comfort in me. He holds my hand there for a while and I ask him what he’s doing. Bruno lifts his head and opens his eyes to look at me,

“You’re really warm, I feel like I haven’t felt this warmth in a long time.” He smiles again. Something about his smile makes me forget I’m in a cold basement talking to a machine post apocalypse.

I can see his time is almost running out, the light in his eyes begins to die. I don’t know why but I feel like I can’t let him go. I cover my face with my arm and weep into my sleeve. It’s weird, I didn’t cry when my parents died but I’m crying for this machine. A machine which has shown me more humanity in these sixty seconds than any human I know in this rotten city. When his system shuts down his memory will probably be completely erased, even if I do manage to get him working again which is close to impossible. The tragedy is that even if his system didn’t shut down he would be like a moth with cut wings, unable to move from the basement, sitting alone with this flickering light day and night. If the saying is ‘if you love something then let it go’, then maybe I did love him. Or maybe it’s more like even after everything, I don’t want to be left behind in this lonely world again, no matter what that meant. I start crying harder and use both sleeves to catch my tears. He wraps his arms around me to console me, it seems he knows what’s happening. 

“Yusei… Thank you, and sorry for your tears. I’m sure this world is very wonderful, you just have to find the treasures it has, no matter how deeply buried. I’m touched that you’d even shed a tear for me, you truly are as kind as the professor, maybe more so.” A single tear fell from his face, and he shut down.

My father survived the explosion although he was in close proximity to the blast, his android shielded him. My father didn’t speak about it much, it seemed to have brought him great sadness. Just like me, maybe he would have wished to have died in this android’s arms instead of living in such a cold hearted world. The reality of life really is tragic. I don’t know why my father created Bruno, but with this overwhelming feeling of emptiness, I put on my goggles and continue to work again.

**Author's Note:**

> Prof was yusei's dad skdfjgskvbks if it wasn't obvious, and Bruno died trying to protect him. At the end yusei puts his goggles back on to start working at bruno again. Its kind of macabre and sad imo, after this id imagine he continues his life keep trying to get bruno to work/wake up again to the point of insanity. Kind of like a loop, he would get bruno to wake up again but his memory becomes less and less there with each time, and he is up for less amount of time with each trial. Yusei becomes obsessed with this fleeting happiness to the point everything is corrupted and bruno isn't even bruno anymore. It's hard to accept reality is the lesson in my opinion. After having nothing for years he finally has this, but it becomes twisted.
> 
> You could also imagine after this that the story ends with yusei accepting reality and treasuring that moment. In that if he found bruno in the trash, then there must be other treasures not yet found, so the lesson is don't give up on life/this world. Maybe yusei decides to not give up on reality and after this meets diamonds in the dust (Crow and Jack). I wrote the story but please think of it as your own. I really like capturing small bittersweet moments. Bittersweetness is my biggest fear skjdfhksg i hate that feeling because its so specific. Like being sad that this beautiful moment will be over eventually before its even over. Thats how life is and its hard to accept.
> 
> Anyways fun fact i ALSO wrote this for my creative writing class. Bruno was bruno but i had to rename yusei to "Cosmo". I chose cosmo because cosmo has a meaning correlating to space and the cosmos, like how yusei means planetary in japanese. Hes baby also.


End file.
